Severe Head Trauma - what would you do?

[EllenD]

Congrats on getting him back home...I think you'll find that his recovery will be all the more quick now that he's in his home with his family. It's going to take time, but you guys are obviously committed to caring for him and helping him along, so hopefully you start seeing more and more of his old self every single day...That's how head-injuries and severe Concussions work, the damage slowly goes away and the patient slowly comes back a little each day. It's no different for a little Green Cheek than it is for a person...And I'm certain you and your CAV made the correct choice...

Keep us all updated on how Loki is doing, and if you have any questions don't ever hesitate to ask the community!

 

[wrench13]

I would leave him at the vet (with your visits of course), to see if he stabilizes, for 1 mre week, and then brig him home ,to be with his flock. I am rooting for the little guy !!

 

[clark_conure]

UPDATE:
We spoke with the vet, who agreed, and as i type, Loki is resting comfortably in his modified cage on our coffee table in the living room with us.

The vet and technicians showed us how to administer his anti-inflammatory meds and the proper way to gavage feed him. The provided a gavage tube and syringe as well as the "formula" (for lack of a better word) to feed him.
We will follow up with his avian vet in 3 days time to make sure that he is progressing ok at home.



I am overwhelmed at the response i have received to my post and i want to take a moment to personally thank you all for your kind words.
Laurasea, Flboy, Noodles123, ChristaNL, Tami2, clark_conure, Terry57, Scott, Sandy19, Heedless, MMARC234 and LaManuka your kind words and stories have helped us to know that we arent alone in our experiences. I am thankful for your concerns and your honesty in your advice.



EllenD, my husband and i cried out loud as we read your remarks. We read all this after we got home with Loki and you helped drive home the assurance that we were doing what was best for Loki and i am more confident now that we made the right choice.



All of you are the reason why i turned to THIS forum for help/hope. I have never in my life met a more compassionate group of people that share a common love than i have with everyone here at parrotforums.



I am giving each and every one of you a great big hug of thanks!!!

I was going to reply but...wouldn't you know it my conures just kicked up a bunch of dust and now my eyes are watering....you know, from the dust.

But keep us updated....

 

[EllenD]

UPDATE:
We spoke with the vet, who agreed, and as i type, Loki is resting comfortably in his modified cage on our coffee table in the living room with us.

The vet and technicians showed us how to administer his anti-inflammatory meds and the proper way to gavage feed him. The provided a gavage tube and syringe as well as the "formula" (for lack of a better word) to feed him.
We will follow up with his avian vet in 3 days time to make sure that he is progressing ok at home.



I am overwhelmed at the response i have received to my post and i want to take a moment to personally thank you all for your kind words.
Laurasea, Flboy, Noodles123, ChristaNL, Tami2, clark_conure, Terry57, Scott, Sandy19, Heedless, MMARC234 and LaManuka your kind words and stories have helped us to know that we arent alone in our experiences. I am thankful for your concerns and your honesty in your advice.



EllenD, my husband and i cried out loud as we read your remarks. We read all this after we got home with Loki and you helped drive home the assurance that we were doing what was best for Loki and i am more confident now that we made the right choice.



All of you are the reason why i turned to THIS forum for help/hope. I have never in my life met a more compassionate group of people that share a common love than i have with everyone here at parrotforums.



I am giving each and every one of you a great big hug of thanks!!!

I was going to reply but...wouldn't you know it my conures just kicked up a bunch of dust and now my eyes are watering....you know, from the dust.

But keep us updated....

Damn Green Cheeks...

 

[gracebowen]

I'm glad he's home too. I don't remember who made the post about dog wheel chairs but my take is I've seen perfectly happy dogs using wheel chairs. They are for the dogs benefit. They help the dog be mobile. We don't euthanize disabled people why is it ok to euthanize disabled animals who can recover and have a decent quality of life.

If they are suffering horribly and can not be helped that's different.

 

[ChristaNL]

Actually that was me and I argued both sides ... but thats okay.


now for the real posting:


Glad you got your bird home!
Now you can journey with him and see how much he improves.
I love the craftsmanship of CAV's but you *know* your bird.
(and nobody really likes hospitals)

 

[K4rest]

Re: Severe Head Trauma - what would you do? - LOKI UPDATE

A very good morning to you all. I hope you had a Happy Valentines Day. I was sending my love to you all.


I'm sorry i haven't posted an update before now, but it's been a hectic week with round the clock gavage feeding and a full time work schedule.



I am excited to say that Loki seems to be doing considerably better!


Yesterday was the first day that he ate a significant amount of fresh food and seed since we brought him home. Previously, We were able to get him to drink water when we offered it to him and he would occasionally make his way to the water bowl on his own, but he really wouln't eat much at all.


I came home from work yesterday and he had appeared to been at the small bowl of seed we'd left for him, so i offered him a chunk of apple which he proceeded to chow down on. he followed that up with about 6 pomegranate seeds. i offered him fresh seed and he chowed down on that as well. it was the first time i'd seen him eat "normally". he had eaten enough that we bypassed 2 gavage feedings. (we are weighing him to ensure he's maintaining weight through all this).


Loki is slowly regaining motor control. He is standing on his own now, no longer laying all the time. He still is having major issues with balance and coordination, but we are seeing improvement little by little every day. he appears to have some trouble with his right foot, but he is getting better with it day by day. He is certainly is regaining strength and has taken flight on us a few times when we least expected it. I am struggling with the decision of trimming his flight feathers while he is recovering, for safety sake.


He did have a milestone today. Loki climbed up the side of his cage for the first time since we brought him home. I was quick to put a hand in the cage in case he fell, but he made it up about 8 inches off the bottom and slowly let himself back down.



He still isn't perching, but he is definitely trying.



All in all he is in much better shape today than when i first made this post. he took his last does of anti-inflammatory medicine this morning and the bruising around his eyes seems to be lessening finally.



I wanted to thank you all again for all the kind words and support you have shown. I am trying to get pictures off my phone to post here so you can see his progress.



We have an appointment this afternoon with his CAV to check his progress and i have a notebook full of observations to take with us.


Keeping fingers and toes crossed that the progress continues!


Hope you all have a wonderful day! More updates to come!


Love,
Kelly

 

[noodles123]

This is excellent news!
You might consider moving his perches may lower to the floor (if you haven't) because if he does fall, you don't want it to be from a great height.



I am SO happy for you!

 

[ParrotGenie]

Re: Severe Head Trauma - what would you do? - LOKI UPDATE

A very good morning to you all. I hope you had a Happy Valentines Day. I was sending my love to you all.


I'm sorry i haven't posted an update before now, but it's been a hectic week with round the clock gavage feeding and a full time work schedule.



I am excited to say that Loki seems to be doing considerably better!


Yesterday was the first day that he ate a significant amount of fresh food and seed since we brought him home. Previously, We were able to get him to drink water when we offered it to him and he would occasionally make his way to the water bowl on his own, but he really wouln't eat much at all.


I came home from work yesterday and he had appeared to been at the small bowl of seed we'd left for him, so i offered him a chunk of apple which he proceeded to chow down on. he followed that up with about 6 pomegranate seeds. i offered him fresh seed and he chowed down on that as well. it was the first time i'd seen him eat "normally". he had eaten enough that we bypassed 2 gavage feedings. (we are weighing him to ensure he's maintaining weight through all this).


Loki is slowly regaining motor control. He is standing on his own now, no longer laying all the time. He still is having major issues with balance and coordination, but we are seeing improvement little by little every day. he appears to have some trouble with his right foot, but he is getting better with it day by day. He is certainly is regaining strength and has taken flight on us a few times when we least expected it. I am struggling with the decision of trimming his flight feathers while he is recovering, for safety sake.


He did have a milestone today. Loki climbed up the side of his cage for the first time since we brought him home. I was quick to put a hand in the cage in case he fell, but he made it up about 8 inches off the bottom and slowly let himself back down.



He still isn't perching, but he is definitely trying.



All in all he is in much better shape today than when i first made this post. he took his last does of anti-inflammatory medicine this morning and the bruising around his eyes seems to be lessening finally.



I wanted to thank you all again for all the kind words and support you have shown. I am trying to get pictures off my phone to post here so you can see his progress.



We have an appointment this afternoon with his CAV to check his progress and i have a notebook full of observations to take with us.


Keeping fingers and toes crossed that the progress continues!


Hope you all have a wonderful day! More updates to come!


Love,
Kelly

This is great news he is recovering.

 

[Laurasea]

Thank you for updating us
Balance takes a bit to get back. I had that problem with my head trauma. So glad he keeps improving!

 

[Scott]

Thanks for a wonderful update! That Loki visibly improves day by day is most heartening. Hope he returns to normalcy, if not high functioning. You and your husband are awesome parronts!

 

[Kalel]

I just saw this thread now. Just wanted to say "go Loki!" So happy things are coming along!

 

[LaManuka]

I’m so very happy for you and Loki, this is wonderful news and I’m sure his doctor will also be impressed with his progress when he sees him. Keep us in the loop!

 

[clark_conure]

I think the general medical consensus at least with humans is the first 24 hours there could be brain swelling and all that...given that your bird has passed that and improving, means that we can call loki "out of the woods".

I have to believe you have a great vet and that you take excellent care of your precious family member. I was encouraged they also thought you should bring loki home, and taught you how to administer the meds.

I'd send a positive YELP to that clinic.

 

[ChristaNL]

I keep smiling every time I pass this thread: so glad he is home and improving (a lot!).


Every time I read about parrots in hospital I feel so sorry for them: they bond like crazy with their flock ..and then they are all alone (depending how well the people in the clinic are with birds), so when they get reunited \o/

 

[EllenD]

This is awesome news!!! It really does sound like he's going to make close to if not a full recovery over time. It is amazing how recovery from a concussion/head trauma starts progressing more and more each day after the swelling and bruising subsides. The fact that he's actually able to fly and get off the ground is huge. I didn't expect that so quickly. He's obviously a strong, healthy bird and wasn't at all ready to throw in the towel...

Keep us posted, I'm sure your CAV is very pleased with his progress...

 

[K4rest]

Re: Severe Head Trauma - what would you do? - LOKI UPDATE

Loki's CAV was very impressed with his progress. She was present when Loki was first brought in to emergency and when he took his turn for the worse 2 days later. She has now dubbed him her "Lucky Bird" and was proud to show him off to the rest of the ICU staff that had worked with him the previous week. It made me very happy that she saw such a huge improvement in him.


We have been able to stop the gavage feeding for now. Loki has been actively eating his fresh foods and seed on his own. I have noticed that he seems to have trouble lowering his head for now. I did comment on this to the vet and she stated she wasn't surprised. We've bought and modified some new bowls to raise the food to a higher level to make it easier for Loki to eat on his own. We are still giving him formula to ensure he is getting all the nutrients he needs, but we are able to just use a syringe now. The CAV recommended we use Harrison's recovery formula once we run out of the Emeraid they provided.



She did tell us that it is possible that this is as good as Loki can get, but i feel that was just her way of letting us know what the worse case scenario is. I feel very confident that Loki will recover more than he has. I will be pleasantly surprised if he does make a full recovery. But for now, I just want happy, healthy and functional. We'll deal with whatever issues or deficiencies with as much love and care as if he made a full recovery.



My little daredevil has actively taken to climbing the sides of his cage. He is currently being housed in his sleep cage in which we had removed all of his perches and lined the bottom with some quilted pads i made. And we have a small heater near by to keep the cage at a constant temperature. I have a small towel draped over the top of the cage to help stabilize the temp in the cage which covers about the top 1/3 of the cage completely.
We came home from a shopping trip yesterday (after dropping Loki off after his Vet visit) and i look in on him only to find an empty cage!


Well let me tell you, i about had a heart attack, lol. i for the life of me could not figure out how our little Houdini managed to escape.



Here, Loki had climbed all the way to the top of the cage and was out of sight under where the towel was covering. Needless to say, we have once again modified his sleep cage with a few strategically placed pieces of cardboard to lower the height of the cage temporarily. i have placed a low perch (about 3 inches off the bottom of the cage) to give him a place to step up and try to perch while he continues his recovery. Right now he is still climbing the side of his cage, but the cardboard is limiting his height. if he were to fall, it will be less than his body length. Knock on wood, so far, he has been able to climb down from his low point on the side of the cage without too much trouble.



I am finally breathing easier since this all went down. I want to thank you all again for your kindness and support. And i hope (god forbid anyone would need it) that this post will be helpful for anyone else that goes through an issue similar to ours.



I'm trying to get organized so i can get some of my photos transferred to my pc so i can document his recovery in pictures as well.



Thanks again!
Love,
Kelly

 

[Laurasea]

Sooooo happy reading this!

 

[K4rest]

Just some photos to show progress.
1. 2 days after the accident. We weren't sure he was going to make it. You can see the bruising under his eye. I had put my hand in his incubator to try and clean up the seed a bit and he crawled over into my hand and just lay there. (also, that's pomegranate juice on his mat, not blood)





2. This is 6 days after the accident. We had survive our first night at home with round the clock feedings. (sorry for the crappy pic, i was half asleep) He wasn't very active the first 48 hours we had him home.





3. 8 days after accident and 3rd day at home, he began trying to use his feet and was trying to get a grip on my fingers. Bruising was also less prominent.





4. Tonight (2 weeks since the accident) He's standing on his own, giving cuddles, climbing around the walls of his cage, eating well on his own (still offering him formula supplements twice a day). He's still very wobbly on his own, but we can see the progress every day and the bruises are almost completely healed.






Sorry, not sure why the pictures rotated the way they did. I'm still new to this.



But as you can see, our Lucky Loki still has a long way to go.... but he's determined!



:41::41:

 

[Owlet]

What a good baby! Sounds like he's recovering rather well. I wish you both the best of luck and I am so glad you decided to take him home.